Free Republic

........ a bankruptcy judge ruled Madoff's investors can maximum cash compensation is $100,000 from the Securities Investor Protection Corp liquidating his now-defunct firm. US Bankruptcy Court Judge Burton Lifland approved the SIPC plan wherein Madoff's investors are entitled to $500,000 worth of securities from the SIPC (includes $100,000 cash figure).

What's a paltry one million dollars to a member of Congress? Well, apparently not enough to know if an organization about to receive that big block of cash actually exists. Republican Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, the fiscal crusader who's never met an earmark he likes, questioned Democratic Rep. Peter J. Visclosky of Indiana on the House floor Tuesday about whether the Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure actually exists - since, hey, it's getting like a million bucks or something. Visclosky, who chairs the spending subcommittee responsible for the project, had to admit that, well, he didn't have a clue....

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - American technology workers riled by a congressional delegation's $165,000 trip to India say it amounted to little more than a junket promoting offshore outsourcing. Nine congressmen, mainly pro-labor Democrats from California, New York and Georgia, took the all-expenses paid trip to India in January. Most took along spouses or legislative aides, and some individual tabs exceeded $10,000. The Confederation of Indian Industries, a trade group that helps craft India's economic policies and fosters relationships between American and Indian companies, paid for hotels, meals and transportation. CII members include India's pro-outsourcing trade group National Association of...